A review of the genesis, geochronology, and geological significance of hydrothermal copper and associated metals deposits in the Great Xing'an Range, NE China

•The metallogenesis of hydrothermal Cu deposits underwent at least four stages.•Hydrothermal Cu deposits can be divided into three types.•Hydrothermal Cu mineralization is related to collision or crustal extension.

The Great Xing'an Range, located in the eastern Mongolia–Hinggan orogenic belt, NE China, hosts numerous endogenous base and precious metal mineral deposits. The hydrothermal copper and associated metals deposits in this area can be divided into three genetic types based on their geology and geochronology: porphyry Cu–Mo, high-sulfidation Cu–Ag and Cu–Sn epithermal, and Cu–Fe skarn. All of these mineral deposits, barring the Cu–Sm epithermal deposits, are closely related to high-K calc-alkaline I-type granitic magmatism. The eastern part of the area hosts porphyry copper deposits that generally formed around 180–170 Ma, with a few deposits formed at ~ 485 Ma, whereas high-sulfidation epithermal copper–silver deposits in the central Great Xing'an Range formed at 245 Ma. The west of the study area hosts high-sulfidation epithermal Cu–Sn deposits that formed at 150–135 Ma and are related to A-type granites. Skarn deposits are associated with the epithermal and porphyry deposits described above, and formed at 180–160 and 150–135 Ma. The geodynamic setting of the region during these mineralizing events is consistent with Early Paleozoic collision between the Xing'an Massif and the Songnen Terrane, Late Permian collision between the North China Craton (NCC) and the Heilongjiang Plate, Middle Jurassic collision between the Siberian Plate and the NCC epicontinental aggradational belt, and crustal extension and thinning during an Early Cretaceous collisional orogenic event. This indicates that the mineral deposits formed in an intracontinental transitional orogenic or post-orogenic extensional tectonic setting.